Services

Jump Start Program

Jump Start Program

This program is designed for professionals who are not ready for the Life Planning Program, but still want financial support right now. We focus on 2-3 financial topics from this list to help you understand which actions to take next. In our 90-minute conversation, you’ll receive a deeper understanding of your financial situation and answers to your most pressing questions. You’ll walk away with a written plan that you can use as a blueprint to confidently make further progress on your own.

Here’s what you receive with the Jump Start Program plan:

Initial help organizing your relevant financial information

90-minute conversation (phone, video or in person) to answer questions and strategize

3-5 page summary and action plan to help you get on track

2 weeks of email access after our meeting to answer any questions about the action plan

Jump Start program can cover a number of topics, including financial questions, concerns, challenges, and opportunities. Here's some of what we can discuss and tackle together as we put you in a position to use money as a tool to live the life you want:

Income/Expense Planning

Does your income support your lifestyle?

Are you spending intelligently?

How much do you need for emergencies?

Goal Creation

What are your 12 month, 5, 10+ year goals?

Are you on track to achieve them?

Who holds you accountable for these goals?

Employee Benefits

Are you optimizing your benefits at work?

Should you use a health savings account?

Insurance

Do you need life and/or disability insurance?

Does an umbrella policy make sense for you?

Retirement

What does retirement mean to you?

How much money do you need to retire?

Investments

Are your investments performing adequately?

Is your strategy aligned with your goals?

Are you taking on too much risk? Not enough?

Career

Do you enjoy your job? Why or why not?

Are there ways for you to adjust or change it?

Debt Management

How do you prioritize which debt to pay down first?

Should you be paying more or saving/investing?

Housing

Should you buy or continue to rent?

How do you determine your down payment?

When should you refinance your mortgage?

Education Planning

How much should you be saving for college?

Is a 529 Plan right for your situation?

Estate Planning

Are you protected should something happen?

What documents do you need in place now?

Tax Planning

Are you taking advantage of all tax savings opportunities?

Does tax deferral make sense for you?

You might still have questions about what exactly to expect from a relationship with a financial planner. We've got you covered with a detailed look at the organized process we use to help you move from, "I wonder if I'm doing everything right with my money?" to "I'm doing exactly what I need with my money to create the life I want."

Comprehensive financial planning is something that everyone can benefit from. While you can spend hours researching some of this stuff on your own, you have a day job that keeps you busy. It’s much easier to consult a certified expert than to wade through mountains of news articles. We provide our clients peace of mind by providing a road map for moving your finances forward and we answer all your questions along the way.

Some additional benefits of working with an advisor are that we’ll find ways to help you: 1) Make more money by optimizing your investments, account types, and cash. 2) Save money by making sure you’re not overpaying for fees, insurance or debt. 3) Avoid making costly behavioral mistakes with your finances.

We can also help you spot issues that you might not be thinking about at all. There is no one-size-fits all approach. The recommendations you receive from Alpha Street will be customized based on your values around money and reflect your own unique goals and priorities.

What’s included?

A comprehensive financial plan that provides an analysis of your strengths and weaknesses

Written, easy-to-understand action steps. Recommendations that are in your best interest with no product sales or commission (we are fee-only fiduciaries)

Financial goal setting, scenario analysis, and help with making financial decisions

Net worth analysis/tracking as a barometer to see how you’re doing

A summary of your income, cash flows and budget including any necessary recommendations

Retirement projection(s) based on your goals

Access to financial planning software to help visualize your progress

Assistance with planning when and how much to invest, and in what type of account based on your goals and needs

An asset allocation recommendation for retirement and non-retirement accounts

Identification of strategies that could optimize your financial position, including those related to tax-advantaged accounts and debt

Career planning and brainstorming as it relates to your finances

A review of your estate planning documents, employee benefits, and insurance policies and recommendations for adjustments if necessary

Referral to other professionals if needed, such as CPAs, insurance brokers, or attorneys, to assist with implementation

What’s not included?

This service includes only financial planning services, not investment management. While we do provide investment analysis and asset allocation recommendations for your accounts, with this service, you’re responsible for executing investment recommendations and trades on your own with assistance from us. We do not provide hot tips or stock picking advice. If you’re interested in having us manage your assets and execute transactions and rebalancing on your behalf, check out our Wealth Management platform.

What’s the financial planning process about?

We’ll work to get to know you and gather data to understand your full financial life. Then we’ll work on analyzing your unique situation and providing easy-to-understand recommendations. We’ll also be there to help you implement the advice and monitor your progress and growth going forward.

Who’s this for?

Working professionals who are interested in having a personal finance expert get to know them to provide customized advice and help them make big and small financial decisions.

Those who desire to dream bigger for themselves professionally and financially and want help to get there.

Those who may be overwhelmed by news and information, some of which often provide contradictory advice.

Those who want a big picture view of their finances as well as specific action steps to help them achieve financial freedom or get through a big life change.

Those who want to work with an unbiased, fee-only fiduciary who acts in your best interest

Business Planning

Business Planning Services

As a business owner, you’ve got a ton of things to think through and many decisions to make. One of your goals should be to make sure your endeavor is financially sustainable. We know you specialize in whatever product or service you provide, so let us help you with your financial strategy.

To give your business the best chance of success, you need to make sure your personal finances are rock solid, you plan for uneven revenue, and replace benefits you used to get at work. To make sure you’re not forgetting anything, check out this timeline for launching a business to help get you financially ready to start or grow your business. We provide a customized suite of services to take you to the next level with your business financially.

What’s included?

We assist where you need the most help. Here are some examples of what we can provide:

A multi-year business budget to help guide your strategic spending decisions

Help you decide when, how much, and how often to pay yourself

Help you figure out how much cash you should keep on hand

Help you set up systems to keep your business and personal expenses separate

A review of business costs and recommendations for cost cutting, if necessary

A review of capital raising options, current debts and/or a debt repayment strategy

A review of income sources and recommendations to expand/improve, if necessary

Suggested key performance indicators (KPIs) as data points you can review regularly to understand the health of the business

Business plan template and pro forma financial statements to include in the business plan

Discussion/coordination with your other consultants as needed, such as lawyer, bookkeeper or CPA or introduction to these professionals if you don’t have them.

Discussion/recommendations on benefits planning for the business (insurance, retirement, etc.)

Discussion/recommendations on business structure

Meetings to review findings, recommendations, and action items

What’s not included?

This service doesn’t include bookkeeping, tax preparation or calculation of quarterly tax payments or sales tax.

Who’s this for?

Those looking to make the leap from full time work or part time entrepreneurship into full-time entrepreneurship and who have an idea about what service/product to provide

Those who have established business but are looking to improve profitability, grow and ensure a sustainable future

Those who want to work with someone who understands behavioral finance as well as the delicate integration of business and personal finances when you own your own business.

What’s the cost?

Fees for business planning are charged on an hourly basis at the rate of $250 per hour (2 HR Minimum) Alpha Street, Inc. will provide an estimate of total fees before doing the work.

If you need personal financial planning too, I may include some of these services as part of my annual comprehensive financial planning services or provide a multi-service discount based on complexity.

College Planning

College Planning

Maintaining your Life goals while helping your children get on the road to success.

We help our clients:

Plan for college (529, State Plans, Cloverdale )

Design a proactive 4-Year college funding plan

Understand how to make rational college choices. (Return on College (ROC) investment.

Help plan and manage student loan debt.

Investment Management Service

Portfolio Management

Why do investors choose Alpha Street to manage their wealth?

Aligned Interests. We are 100% fee-based, not commission based.

Comprehensive. Finding under-valued assets is difficult. We don't believe it should be made harder by limiting the potential investable universe. We are global and multi-asset, not sector or style-specific.

No Divide Between Relationship and Analysis. Wall Street has re-structured asset management into those who manage relationships and those who analyze investments. We do not.

A Higher Standard. Investment advisors have a "fidcuiary" duty always to act in the best interest of our clients, not just ensure "suitability" as it is for brokers.

Our Wealth Management philosophy starts with a thorough understanding of the unique needs of each client. Some may be preserving capital, while others are focused on growing capital to achieve specific goals. Some have exceptionally complex investments with multiple managers, others have just one account. What each client does share is a thoughtful assessment of how we can achieve his or her financial goals through prudent investing and risk management.

Typically, the first step is to create an asset allocation strategy that incorporates a client's financial objectives adjusted for risk.

Once an appropriate asset mix is established, we select the appropriate fixed income and equity investments through research-- both proprietary and Street-- with an eye to high quality securities that are mispriced in the market. While we have a long-term view, we will also manage to the near-term to attempt to limit volatility and risk. Next, we layer alternative investments into the asset mix principally using ETFs, but we will utilize alliances in illiquid areas such as real estate and private equity in an effort to lower overall volatility and to expand duration.

It is critical-- just as we would insist that our assets are held in custodial accounts-- that client assets are too. We have selected TD Ameritrade Institutional as our third-party clearing and custodial agent to house client assets.